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Bus lane
A bus lane or bus only lane is a lane restricted to buses on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. Often restrictions do not apply to certain other vehicles, which may include taxis, high occupancy vehicles, motorcycles, and bicycles. Bus lanes are a central part of bus rapid transit. Design A bus lane is not necessarily very long, as it may only be used to bypass a single congestion point such as an intersection. Some cities have built large stretches of bus lanes amounting to a separate local road system, often called a busway system. Entire roads can be designated as bus lanes (such as Oxford Street in London, Orchard Road in Singapore or Princes Street in Edinburgh), allowing buses, taxis and delivery vehicles only, or a contra-flow bus lane can allow buses to travel in the opposite direction to other vehicles. Some bus lanes operate at certain times of the day only, usually during rush hour, allowing all vehicles to use the lane at other times, and it is common to have bus lanes in only one direction, such as for the main direction of the morning rush hour traffic, with the buses using normal lanes in the other direction. Bus lanes may have separate sets of traffic signals, to allow priority at intersections. Bus lanes may be marked in several ways. They must be demarcated by lines on the road; road signs may warn that they are bus lanes on certain days and times; descriptive text such as "BUS LANE" may be marked prominently on the road surface, particularly at the beginning and end; the road surface may have a distinctive colour. For Singapore, normal bus lanes are demarcated with white line, whereas for 24-hour restricted bus lanes, the road surface is red in colour. Other special-purpose lanes may similarly be marked, e.g. a cycle path may have bicycle symbols and a different coloured surface. Vehicles that can use the bus lane Read the bus lane signs to find out who can use it and when. Some signs may display the word 'Local' which means only local bus routes can use the bus lane. *Motorcycles *Electric scooters *Shared bicycles *All buses *All taxis except private-hire app services such as Grab and Ryde Hours of operation Motorists take note. From 1 April 2007, bus lane operating hours will be revised. To avoid intruding into the bus lanes, please note the following changes: *Full-day bus lane will be expanded to cover five new locations: Eu Tong Sen Street, Hill Street, Victoria Street, Bras Basah Road and Somerset Road/Penang Rd. For update on the expanded full-day bus lane scheme effective on 2 June 2008, please refer to here. *Normal bus lane hours during weekday mornings will remain the same while the operating hours of the weekday evening period will be adjusted from 4.30pm-7.00pm to 5.00pm-8.00pm. Bus lane hours on Saturdays will no longer apply. Kudos to LTA for their publicity effort. Information brochures and car decals were sent to motorists to inform them of the changes well in advance. In total, 600,000 information packets was sent to all registered vehicle owners, taxi companies and for distribution at selected petrol kiosks. I have only one peeve about this: that the removal of bus lane operational hours on Saturdays should have come hand-in-hand with the implementation of five-day work week (which was adopted by almost all industries by early 2005). For those who are a bit more nostalgic, bus lanes were first introduced in 1974 because "public buses using limited road space are to be given high priority", and "quicker turn around can effectively increase the carrying capacity of the fleet of public buses" (Straits Times, 20 Jan 1974). The scheme first started with bus lanes at 11 areas involving 20 roads, which were implemented in stages in the following order: *6 Feb: Robinson Road-Maxwell Road of Collyer Quay *22 Feb: Stamford Road-Bras Basah Road *15 Mar: Orchard Road-Stamford Road to Paterson Road *16 Mar: Collyer Quay-Connaught Drive *21 Mar: North Bridge Road-South Bridge Road-Neil Road-Cantonment Road *21 Mar: North Bridge Road-Bras Basah Rd to Crawford Street *4 Apr: New Bridge Road-Hill Street-Victoria Street from Outram Road to Bras Basah Road *4 Apr: Victoria Street-Kallang Road from Bras Basah Road to Lavender Street *20 Apr: Selegie Road-Serangoon Road from Dhoby Ghaut to Lavender Street *11 May: Jalan Besar-Bencoolen Street from Lavender Street to Bras Basah Road *20 June: Shenton Way from Raffles Quay to Maxwell Road Back then, the penalty for other vehicles which enter or travel along the bus lanes were a maximum fine of $400 for the first offence and a $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months for a second or subsequent conviction. Bus Lane Changes in 2008 Bus Lanes (Normal) *Hougang Avenue 3 (from Upper Serangoon Road to Tampines Road) *New Upper Changi Road (from Chai Chee Drive to Tanah Merah MRT) *Serangoon Road (from Lavender Street to MacPherson Road) *Simei Avenue (from ITE College East to PIE) *Sims Avenue *Sims Avenue East *Tampines Avenue 5 *Upper Serangoon Road (from Hougang Central to Hougang Avenue 2) Enforcement Bus lanes can become ineffective if weak enforcement allows use by unauthorized vehicles or illegal parking on them (for example in shopping areas). In London and Singapore, bus lanes may also be used by motorcycles, taxis and bicycles. Any other vehicles using bus lanes during the hours of operation will be fined $130 if caught by CCTV cameras installed specifically to monitor this kind of behavior. We will issue a Penalty Summons when you use a bus lane during prohibited hours. Bus Lane Offences In 2008, Ernest Mok had paid $130 fine for driving in bus lane during prohibited hours, for not understanding the newer bus lanes at Upper Changi Road East. Thankfully, the fine was settled. Steven Quek had paid $130 fine for driving in bus lane at Upper Paya Lebar Road and a few roads. Major networks Some network lengths of bus lanes in major cities, listed by buses per km of bus lane): Criticism The installation of bus lanes requires additional space to either be constructed (increasing the impact of the road on the surrounding area, and possibly requiring private land) or taken from existing lanes; this may reduce the capacity of the road for private vehicles. The loss of lanes is controversial with many road users when this is actually an ancillary reason (i.e. when local authorities want to explicitly combine improved public transport options with reducing or at least not improving convenience for motorists).